500 Million Friends (or The American Dream)

"Involuntarily I glanced seaward - and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far way, that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness." -F. Scott Fitgerald

             The Social Network is easily the critical darling of the year. Everyone talks about the technical genius, the screwball paced dialogue, and the performances, but an examination of the film's relationship to the audience has been largely lacking. I believe that the film's true genius lies in the way it updates "The American Dream" to the modern era. Everyday we see self-made millionaires like Zuckerberg and celebrities with no more claim to fame than being friends with Paris Hilton (or being Paris Hilton for that matter) and we have almost no choice but to think about how it could be us -- suddenly rich for some simple idea or for who we know. That may be "The American Dream" but it isn't "The American Story". That story can be seen everywhere, from works of art like Citizen Kane to real life melodrama like William Randolph Hearst's censorship of that same film. The American Story is broken dreams and the corruption of ideals and no film has better shown it recently than The Social Network.

“Your future is all used up.” Essential 5: Film Noir

"I say a murder is abstract. You pull the trigger and after that you do not understand anything that happens." -Jean-Paul Sartre, 1948




Film noir is one of those things which will never be truly defined. Film scholars will be squabbling over it until there are no more film scholars. That doesn't mean that the question isn't important and doesn't shed light on the films themselves. I feel almost as if giving my two cents is a right of passage. After reading many who have attempted what I myself am attempting here, I think its possible to break down most thinkers into three distinct camps, those who try to define noir in terms of: pure aesthetics; character traits, setting, and plot elements (the things, or semantic elements); and the themes and context (the syntactic elements). It seems to me that none of these is exactly right in and of itself but rather the answer lies in some combination.

The Greatest Films of All Time: 2010 Update

If, based on the title, you are expecting to see my own list set out, then I'm afraid you'll be mistaken (but probably not disappointed). I wouldn't presume to, based on my limited and idiosyncratic viewing history, make that sort of attempt. Instead I want to highlight the newest update on what has become to many (myself included) the quintessential such list. They Shoot Pictures Don't They is basically an amalgamation of many reputable such lists into a surprisingly cohesive and satisfying whole. That isn't to say that criticism of the list isn't justified, as Kevin Lee points out the list is extremely biased towards films made in the US and Europe almost ignoring films from countries with rich cinematic history like India and China as well as the films of Africa and and the rest of Asia. The beauty of such a list, though, is giving burgeoning cinephiles and critics everywhere a place to start. I personally relied really heavily on the list when I was first starting out and cannot express how many great films I have seen as a result of their inclusion on the list. As much as many critics shrug at such things, the power of such a list to give people a place to start as well as a goal can't be easily dismissed.